Changing the definition of “border security” could be key to immigration overhaul

Lawmakers and federal law enforcement officials are struggling to find an agreed definition of border security — a politically charged debate that could determine the fate of comprehensive immigration reform.

Without bipartisan consensus on the metrics of border security — and agreement that security has been achieved — Republicans and Democrats see little prospect for behind-the-scenes negotiations to simultaneously bolster border security and provide a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants already in the United States.

“What does a secure border look like?” Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso, inquired during a hearing by the border security panel of the House Committee on Homeland Security. “The fate of 11 million people in the United States right now and the future of comprehensive immigration reform depend on the answer to this question.”

Rep. Candice Miller, R-Michigan, chair of the House subcommittee, said an agreed yardstick of success is sorely needed following an era in which progress was measured by miles of fencing and the number of U.S. Border Patrol agents.

“Success in securing the border must be defined by real and measurable benchmarks,” Miller said. “How we will measure progress going forward.”

Congress and the White House, as well as the U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, are seeking an agreed definition of success along the 1,969-mile boundary with Mexico.

The American people are “receiving mixed signals when it comes to border security,” said Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-South Carolina. “Congress and the public are sort of in the dark when it comes to the true numbers and the true effectiveness (of border security).”

The Obama administration’s definition has shifted from “operational control” to an evolving “border condition index” that is still being developed, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Fisher told lawmakers.

“We do not use (operational control) as a measure of border security because the reality is that the condition of the border cannot be described by a single objective measure,” Fisher testified to a panel that included three Texans.

The change reflects a decision by Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano to abandon a definition that relied upon the number of miles where U.S. Border Patrol had the “capability to detect, respond to, and interdict cross-border illegal activity.”

The change came after Napolitano’s department reported in 2010 that law enforcement agencies had achieved varying levels of operational control along only 873 miles — or 44 percent — of the U.S.-Mexico border. That statistic became a favorite target for GOP critics of the Obama administration.

The law enforcement agency is developing “a new comprehensive index that will more thoroughly represent what is happening at our borders and allow us to better measure our progress,” says a CBP official speaking on background.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, said efforts to develop an agreed definition of border security would “have a very positive impact” on negotiations for comprehensive immigration reform.

Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, a former chairman of the House subcommittee, said Republicans and Democrats have “different impressions of how border security is going,” adding: “We have to come up with a consensus on the definition of secure.”